Transformer



A118 16, 1932. H. HALPERIN ETAL 1,872,575

TRANSFORIER Original Filed latch 14. 1931 j f2' z f a f fyi 5 7 Egg.

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Patented Aug. 16, 1932 UNITED STATESk PATENT OFFICE TRANSFORMEB Original application tiled March 14, 1981, Serial No. 582,546. Divided and this application Med lvember 20, 1981. Serial No. 578,284.

This application is a division of our pending application Serial No. 522,546, filed March 14, 1931 and relates in general to transformers or reactors and more particularly such as are especially adapted for use in connection with cable sheath bonding.

Induced voltages on lead sheaths of single conductor, underground, alternating current power cables have been reduced, where neces- "m sary, to values unobjectionable from a corrosion standpoint or other practical considerations by means of sheath bonding transformers connected ,to cables in various manners. Various bonding systems and the transformers employed are disclosed in our Patents Nos. 1,721,018 of July 16, 1929; 1,809,591 of June 9, .1931, and 1,823,140 of September 15, 1931. Each of these systems involves single conductor cables the sheaths of which are electrically separated from one another by means of insulating sleeves with sheath bonding transformers provided at the ends of the sections. The greatest voltage reduction is obtained by a series connection 185 in which an impedance coil is connected across the insulating sleeve of the insulated section of the sheath on each phase and the mid-point of the several phase coils of the respective cables are interconnected and pref- '30 erably grounded. Such arrangements have been found to be quite satisfactory in a system wherein the lengths of cable sheath between insulatng points are all substantially equal throughout. If, as is generally the case,

85 the lengths are unequal certain conditions are introduced which, while they are generally of insuiii'cient magnitude to produce any objectionable effect, carry certain objectionable possibilities in certain extreme cases where the inequalities in successive cable lengths are in a certain order.

If the cable lengths between successive insulating points are all equal, the voltage will build up along each sheath length to twice the value of the voltage across each half coil, and since the coil mid-tap at each end of the length is at ground potential, the magnitude of the voltage between the sheath and ground at each end of the length is only one-half of the total value induced in the length of the sheath. If both halves of each phase coil are wound upon the same core leg there is a very high mutual magnetic coupling between the two coil halves of each phase taken in pairs'. If now the conduit or cable lengths are not equal it is found that the maximum voltage appearing on the sheath at some particular section may vary considerably from one half the induced voltage for the individual lengths. This is due to the magnetic coupling between the two half coils of each phase of the transformer-which forces the two half co'l voltages to be nearly equal in magnitude. Whatever voltage is applied by a first length of cable to one half coil must,by induction, appear in the other half and be applied to the succeeding length. In such an arrangement an unfavorable sequence of unequal conduit lengths may result in voltage reductions less than fift per cent at one end 7o of any given cable length' and more than fifty percent of the other end. The voltage reduction will, in general, average fifty percent for a section of line, but it is to be noted that it is the maximum voltage, rather than the average voltage, which is to be controlled.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provideI a transformer which will overcome the difficulty caused by the large mutual coupling between adjacent cable sections. We have discovered that it is the magnetic coupling between the coils of the adjacent cable sections that introduces the diiliculty above mentioned and we have devised a sheath bonding system wherein this large mutual coupling is eliminated or substantially reduced. This may be accomplished by winding the two halves of each coil upon separate magnetic structures or, if they are wound upon the same magnetic structure the equivalent result may be obtained by separating the two halves of each coil and adding a flux leakage path between the transformer core legs of each phase at 95 the point of separation. By this means the three phase series transformer becomes, in effect, two star connected-transformers electrically interconnected at the star point and magnetically independent, although the two 10 star transformers have a common intermediate core member.

As ointed out in our above referred to application and in our Patents, No. 1,823,140 of Se tember 15, 1931, and No. 1 812,149 of July 1931, the best results are obtained by providing an arrangement wherein the impedance of the coils is rather high during the normal operation of the system and 1s reduced to a negligible value upon the occurrence of unbalanced conditions and that this is accomplished by providing the transformers with a delta connected secondary winding which may take the form of a closed loop surrounding all three hase legs of the transformer core. It is a urther object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement of the secondary coil or winding upon the core. The core comprises a laminated structure upon which the three phase primary windings are located: We propose to make the secondary winding 1n the form of cast copper loops which are preferably cast as separate pieces and thereafter placed upon the laminated structure. The secondaries may thus be utilized to clamp the laminations together. As an alternative one or more of the secondaries may be cast directly upon the laminated core. Wedges may be driven between the laminations at the ends in such a manner as to spread the laminations to produce a tight engagement between the cast secondary and the core structure. This construction eliminates the necessity for bolted clamping members used in ordmary transformer construction and firmly braces the secondary coils against magnetic reaction and results in a design of great ruggedness, simplicity and compactness.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a schematic wiring diagram of our improved sheath bonding arrangement;

Figure 2 is a sheathvoltage profile for one cable phase, indicating, in exaggerated form, distortion of voltage which may occur for a very unfavorable sequence of unequal conduit length in a system wherein there is a large mutual coupling between adjacent cable sections;

Figure 3 is a voltage profile which is obtained in a system such as shown in Figure 1' an Figure 4 is a sectional view of our improved transformer, such view being taken along the line 4 4 of Figure 1.

Reference may now be had more particularly to Figure 1 wherein we show our invention as applied to a three-phase system. It is however to be understood that the present invention is not limited to such a system,

The sheat s of each cable are divided into sections insulated from one another and of a length usually equal to the distance between manholes. The sections are indicated at 5, 6, and 7, the respective sections being insulated from one another by suitable insulating joints 8. As stated above, each sheath section usually extendsy from one manhole to another, the insulating joints being located in the manholes in the customary manner, although the joints ma also be located at other points if re uire A transformer 10 of our improve construction is provided for interconnecting the ends of the cable sheath terminating at the first insulatin joint 8. A similar transformer is provi ed at each insulating section. Each transformer is provided with three parallel core legs 11, 12 and 13 in a closed magnetic circuit. The core leg 11 includes a winding 15 at one end thereof and another winding 16 at the other end thereof. The other core legs 12 and 13 include similar primary windings at the two ends thereof. One terminal of the winding 15 is connected to the sheath of the a phase cable in section 5 and one terminal of the winding 16 is connected to the sheath of the a phase cable in the section 6. The windings on the core legs 12 and 13 are similarly connected to the sheath of the b and c phase sheaths. The other terminals of the six primary coils are electrically connected together establishing an electrical neutral point which is preferably grounded. Thus the three coils that are connected to the cable sheaths in section 5 constitute three primary coils of a transformer connected in star, and the same applies to the three coils at the other end ofthe transformer which are connected to the cable sheath in section 6.

Flux leakage blocks or shunts 2O and 21 are inter osed between the three core le 11, 12 an 13, preferably midway along their length. Because of these leakage blocks the magnetizing flux of the coil 15 need not necessarily traverse the coil 16. The same applies to the coils on the other two core legs.I Hence, with the present construction, that half of the transformer 10 which is connected to the sheaths in section 5 is substantially independent of that half of the transformer which is connected with the sheaths of the section 6. Hence, with this construction, the two half transformers that are connected -to the two ends of any cable length will always reduce the voltage to ground equally at each end, which means that each end of any cable length will have a voltage above ground equal to fifty per cent of the voltage induced in that length. This equality assumes, of course, that the transformers are all of identical construction or that they have nearly identical voltage-current excitation characteristics.

Since the half coils are all wound with the same olarity and since flux is proportional to volltage, it is evident that t emagnetic flux flowing across the flux leakage paths 20 and 21 will correspond to the differences of half of the voltages induced in the two cable lengths which the transformer connects. As a maximum this differential flux would approach the value in any core leg. In ordinary practice, the two halves of the transformer are not called upon to o rate at widely different voltages. There ore, the cross sectional area of the flux leakage path need only equal that of the main core members and, in general, could even be somewhat less. Furthermore, it is unnecessary to interleave the laminations of the flux leakage blocks 20-21 with the laminations of the core legs. Instead, simple rectangular blocks of laminations can be set between the core legs at the proper places betweenv the coils so long as the air gaps thereby introduced are not excessive.

In order to more clearly illustrate the manner of operation of our present invention reference may be had first to Figure 2 and then to Figure 3. Figure 2 shows a sheath voltage profile which will result from using bonding transformers with perfect mutual coupling between the two coils on each core leg, as would be approached if the fiux leakage blocks 20 and 21 were omitted. Figure 3 shows a corres onding voltage profile in a system wherein t ere is no mutual coupling between the two coils on each core leg, a system which is very closely approached by using a transformer having flux leakage blocks as shown in Figure 1. These figures have both been drawn for the same system in which it is assumed that the cable spacing, conductor current, etc., are such that four volts are induced per one hundred feet of cable sheath. The sheath voltage profiles are each referred to ground potential as O O. If the lengths between successive insulating sections are as indicated across the to of Figure 2 the dotted vertical lines will indicate the voltage across the transformer coils which are usually (although not necessarily) installed in consecutive manholes. The full slant lines indicate the voltages induced along the sheath lengths of consecutive sections for any one phase. If the figure is drawn to scale all such lines will have the same slope of four volts per one hundred feet.

With perfect mutual coupling between the coils the voltages across the coils 15 and 16 must be equal so that all vertical dotted line voltages must be bisected by the ground potential line O-O. Therefore, if the voltage is known at some point the complete voltage profile 'may be drawn in subject to bisection of vertical dotted lines and equal slope of full lines. This has been done in Figure 2 for a particularly unfavorable sequence of conduit lengths. It is obvious that the worst conditions will result when the difference between successive lengths is alternately plus and minus.

In actual field practice with transformers that do not have the flux leakage blocks the conditions are not so adverse as indicated by Fi re 2, because the mutual coupling is not perfect and besides special means of bonding can be used to avoid or partly neutralize the ages across the two coils such as 15 and 16 of Figure 1 are now not equal except in the event that the transformer interconnects sections of equal length. In order for the transformer to operate in this manner it is essential that the two coil windings on any one core leg be magnetically independent of one another and that the windings connected to the two ends of a sheath have similar volta e current excitation curves. The first con ition is accomplished by the construction disclosed above and the second condition by using transformers of uniform size and design throughout the system.

The above discussion has reference only to the operation of the system during normal conditions. In order to secure certain advantages during abnormal conditions t-he transformer 10 is provided with one or more secondary windings indicated at 30, 31 and 32. Each of these secondaries comprises a single turn of copper in the form of a closed loop. Each of these turns constitutes, in effect, a delta connected winding, as has been pointed out in our above referred to patents. The electrical function and operation of the secondary windings are identical in principle and action to that of the secondaries disclosed in our above referred to patents and they need not be further discussed here. It may, however, be well to point out that the normal three-phase reactance of the primary coils is high, and only a small exciting current flows, whereby the transformer losses are, during ordinary operating conditions, negligible. Under such conditions the secondary coils function to prevent the flow of triple harmonic current in the sheaths, since the vector suni of the line frequency volt# I ages impressed on the three primary coils at either side of the transformer is zero, whereas the vector sum of the triple harmonic is not zero.

When a fault occurs on one of the lines there will be a greater volta e induced in,y the corresponding cable sheat than in the other sheath. The vector sum of the .currents flowing in the three primary windings of the corresponding half of the transformer will not be zero and a voltage will be in duced in the secondary. Due to the fact that the secondary comprises a short circuited\ coil of low resistance there will be a very large current flow in the secondary with the result that the primary impedance is reduced to a very low value for this unbalanced current. The transformer will therefore act as 'a short circuit to the excess sheath voltages induced in the sheath of the cable carrying 'the fault current, thereb preventing or neutralizing excesrinduce sheath voltages. The secondary winding thus causes the transformers to act as ordinary short circuited transformers of very low impedance.

Figure 4 shows a lon 'tudinal section through one form of trans ormer constructed in accordance with our invention. The secondary consists of three copper conductor bars 30, 31 and 32 which are pre-cast and lassembled on the core. One side of the laminated core structure is indicated at' 25. When the transformer is constructed in this form the bar secondary winding occupies space which would otherwise be unoccu ied. Furthermore, the secondary bars are uti ized to clamp the core laminations together and hold the leakage flux blocks in place. In order to better accomplish this, wedge blocks 26-26 are driven between the laminations and the ends of the core structure in such a manner as to spread them in the end secondary bars. Likewise, wedges 27 are driven between the cast secondary 21 and the laminated structure to provide a rugged assembly. This construction eliminates the necessity for bolted clamping members used in ordinary transformer construction and firmly braces the secondary coils against magnetic reaction. It also results in a design of great ruggedness, simplicity and compactness.

It is to be noted that the secondary winding 30 is effective for the left hand end of the transformer, the secondary 32 is effective for the right hand end of the transformer, and the secondar 31 is in common for the two transformer alves. If desired, the windings 30 and 32 may be omitted or, as an alternative, the winding 31 may be omitted. However, we prefer an arrangement wherein all three of the windings are present.

It is further to be noted that, insofar as the operation of the system as shown in Figure 1 is concerned, the windings 30, 31 and 32 naman may be replaced by two sets of delta connected windings, one set upon the right hand end of the three core le and the other set upon the left hand en of the three core legs. The short circuited coils are the full equivalent of such windings, as pointed out in our above referred to patents.

In compliance with the uirements of the patent statutes, we have erein shown and escribed a preferred embodiment of our invention. The present invention is, however, not limited-to the precise arrangement herein shown, the same being merely illustrative of the broad rinciples of the invention. What we consider new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

We claim:

1. A threehase transformer having three primary win ings at one end, three primary windings at the opposite end, and asecondary winding between the two sets of primary windings.

2. A threehase transformer having three primary win ings at one end. three primary windings at the opposite end, and a secondary winding between the two sets of primary windings, said secondary winding comprising a short circuit loop.

3. A threehase transformer having three primary win ings at one end, three primary windings at the opposite end, a magnetic shunt between the two sets of primary windings, a secondary winding between the two sets of primary windings, and additional sccondary windings at the opposite ends of the core adjacent the two sets of windings.

4. A threehase transformer having three primary win ings at one end, three primary windings at the opposite end, a magnetic shunt between the two sets of primary windings, a secondary winding between the two sets of primary windings and additional secondary windin at the opposite ends of the core adjacent t e two .sets of windings, each of said secondary windings comprising a closed loop surrounding the entire core.

5. A transformer comprising a laminated core, a primary winding thereon, a seconda winding thereon, and wedges between the .lamina for expanding the laminated structure into tight engagement with at least one of the windings.

6. A reactance core having a lurality of spaced legs, two windings on each) leg, one at each end thereof, and a magnetic shunt across said legs between said windings.

7. A transformer core having a plurality of spaced legs, two windings on each leg, one at each end thereof, a magnetic shunt across said legs between said windings, and a secondary winding on said transformer core.

8. A transformer core having a plurality of spaced le two windings on each leg, one at each end t ereof, a magnetic shunt across said legs between said windings, and a secondary lli lll

winding on said transformer core, said seconfary winding comprising a short circuited coi 9. A reactance core having a lplurality of spaced legs, two windings on eac leg, one at each end thereof a ma netic shunt across said legs between said win ings2 and separate secl ondary windings for the windings at the two 4 ends of the core.

10. A threehase transformer having three primary windings at one end, three primary windings at the opposite end, a magnetic shunt between the two sets of primary windings, and a secondary winding between the u two sets of rimary windings.

11. A t ree-phase transformer havmg'` three primary windings at one end, three primary windings at the opposite end, a magnetic .shunt between the two sets of rimary m windings, and a secondary winding tween the two sets ofprimary windin said secindary winding comprising a s ort circuit oop. l

12. A transformer having a magnetic core,

g5 a primary windin thereon divided into two halves and groun ed at the mid point, and a magnetic shunt between the two windings.

13. A transformer having a magnetic core, a. primary winding thereon divided into two 30 halves and grounded at the mid point, a magnetic shunt between the two windings, and a short circuited secondary winding.

14. A transformer having a magnetic core, a primary winding thereon divided into two ha ves and ounded at t`he mid point, a inagnetic shunt tween the two windings, and a short circuited secondary winding at the magnetic shunt.

15. A transformer having a magnetic core,

o a rimary winding thereon divided into two h ves and grounded at the mid point, a magnetic shunt between the two windings, and separate short circuited secondary windings for the two primary lparts and spaced from.

5 the ma etic shunt.

- 16. transformer having a magnetic core, a vprimary windin thereon divided`into two ha ves and grounded at the mid point, a magnetic shunt between the two windin se a- 5 rate short circuited secondary win ings or the two primary parts and spaced from the magnetic shunt, and an additional secondary winding at the magnetic shunt.

In witness whereof we hereunto .subscribe u our names this 16th da of November 1931.

. KENNEiH W. MILLER.

HERMAN HALPERIN. 

